Star Trek

At the age of 83, Leonard Nimoy has passed away from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

I am, frankly, bereft of words at this moment. And I think our readers here know who he was and what his accomplishments were. Please share your thoughts down below. I may have something more coherent later today.

Mr. Nimoy, you did live long and you did prosper. Thank you for everything you did for us fans.

You will be missed, but never forgotten.

Here’s his final message on Twitter:

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

Simon Pegg, who is also reprising his role as Scotty, has been tapped to co-write the next Star Trek film along with Doug Jung.

While I like Pegg’s work as a writer (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc), I’m not sure how that will fit with the more serious Star Trek. Unless they’re going more for a “The Voyage Home” vibe with this film. I do know he’s a huge Sci-Fi fan and has been vocal about his love of the franchise.

Jung, on the other hand, has few writing credits, none of which seem to include any genre TV or film.

With about a year and half left until its release, the film has been plagued by problems with its script and directors.

Due out in 2016 for Star Trek’s 50th anniversary, would-be-first-time director (and multiple time screenwriter) Robert Orci is apparently off the project. In his own words: “Yeah guys, it’s true, I was blown out because the studio said the script sucked.”

There you have it.

With regard to the leaked plot summery: “No time travel was ever considered, fyi.” Of course, this is the same guy that insisted there was no Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, so take it with a grain of salt.

He also stated that this does not jeopardize the 2016 release date. I imagine Paramount/CBS is counting on this film to be the centerpiece of a year-long Star Trek nostalgia-fest.

Robert Orci is set to make his directorial debut with the next Star Trek film (#13 or #3, depending on how myopic your view of the franchise is).

That’s right kids. A guy with a mediocre record as a writer and zero experience directing anything has been handed the reigns to one of the biggest science fiction franchises in history. Did we mention the film is due out on Star Trek’s 50th anniversary?

It’s on Netflix and Amazon Prime, but if you subscribe to neither, you can get every episode of every series from StarTrek.com. For free. The only drawback is that they are Flash-based, so mobile viewing can be tricky.

I might start spending my lunch hours the next few weeks catching up on TAS, just for fun.

The first of our podcasts about contenders in the Greatest Science Fiction Film Tournament is ready for your listening pleasure. In this one, Brian and I discuss the 2009 rebooted Star Trek film, with some minor digressions. If you subscribe to the Bureau 42 Master Audio Podcast feed through iTunes or straight RSS, you should find it in your feed already. Due to the unpredictable nature of the release schedule for Great Science Fiction Film Tournament podcasts, these will go in the master feed, but will not get a feed of their own. Warning: this is a long one. In fact, it’s about half an hour longer than the actual movie.